Kids & Co

Winning business tactics for every family

Ros Jay

A new and clever idea for a book! For once, the author begins by reminding the reader that they already know more than they think they do, and all those business skills you spent years improving will stand you in good stead when parenting.

Closing the sale, win/win negotiating, motivation skills, customer relations and customer care - do these sound familiar to you? Then read Kids & Co and learn how to apply them to your children. Business skills do transfer amazingly well to parenting, and the guidelines spelt out by Jay show you the way. It all makes such sense - think for a moment how you would deal with a customer who has a complaint, and apply it to the kids: listen, sympathize, don’t get defensive, ask questions, involve the customer (child) in the solution, and carry it out! There you are, not too difficult after all, and very effective.

You may think it unlikely that you would be able to make use of your selling skills, but think of it this way: the techniques which work are the same and Ross sets out the basic principles as a reminder. You want the kids to cooperate with you. You want them to go shopping, tidy their rooms and more, and selling an idea is not so very different from selling a product..

But perhaps what parents need most of all are negotiating skills. Here you have to remember that kids are good negotiators too, so prepare your bottom line before you begin.

The conclusion is that you will find you are as successful at parenting as you are in business, and, in addition, you will pass on these skills to your kids and produce a terrific adult. Bearing this in mind Kids & Co is a very worthwhile read indeed.

White Ladder Press

paperback  £6.99   ISBN 0954391403

available  from       

Review published 9 February 2003 © Jill Curtis 2003